A Shreveport man faces up to life in prison if he receives maximum sentences for crimes for which he was convicted Friday in Caddo District Court.
It took the jury just under 80 minutes to find Ronnie Antonio Young Jr., 33, guilty of unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, domestic abuse battery with strangulation and attempted possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The case was before District Judge John D. Mosely Jr., with prosecution by assistant district attorneys Holly McGinness and Jessica Davis. The defense attorneys were Sarah Smith and Michelle AndrePont from the Caddo Parish Indigent Defender’s office.
Jury selection began Tuesday, with full empanelment Thursday afternoon and opening arguments Friday morning. The jury retired at 7:45 p.m. and returned its verdict around 9 p.m.
Charges stemmed from a July 26, 2014 incident where Young attacked his former fiancÈe, who fled to a nearby house for help, prosecutors said. The homeowners called the police for the victim. Young chased the victim into the home while armed with two handguns. He continued to beat the victim and before running away told the homeowners that if he saw himself on the news he would come back and kill them. The homeowners, who had lived in their residence more than 25 years, moved after the incident and threat.
Young, who was arrested on a warrant in March 2015, will appear in court March 8 to receive a sentencing date. He faces up to six years imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000 on the unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling conviction; up to three years imprisonment on the domestic abuse battery with strangulation conviction; and a minimum fine of $500 up to $2,000 and imprisonment for up to 7-1/2 years. However, prosecutors plan to request that Young be sentenced as a third-conviction felony offender with two prior drug offenses and the domestic abuse battery with strangulation, a crime of violence. Under Louisiana’s habitual offender statute, he can then be sentenced to natural life without the possibility of parole or reduction in sentence.
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For more information, call John Andrew Prime, Caddo Parish District Attorneys Office Public Information Officer, at (318) 617-5958.